10 Best Udon in Tokyo You Never Want to Miss

Udon, a popular Japanese noodle made with flour, is easy to find in most of Japanese restaurants overseas too. Udon is popular as a fast food, home cooked food, kids food, and because it is easy to digest, we eat udon when we get sick. Udon is very close to Japanese everyday life.

It’s often a home cooked meal, but in this article I will introduce 10 restaurants that specializes in udon. I am sure that you will be surprised to taste variety of udon.

1. Kagawa Ichifuku in Kanda (香川 一福)

The restaurant was added to Michelin's Bibgulman for 2017. Even though their udon costs 430 yen~, you will be surprised how delicious a bowl of Udon can be. The chef here trained in Kagawa and has high skills of making Sanuki Udon.

Recommended menu here is curry udon, which is said to be one of the bests in Tokyo. Bukkake Udon (boiled Udon with soy sauce) was also delicious, too.

In here, you buy tickets first and then get seated following the instructions from staffs. Be ready to line up because the place is very popular during lunchtime.

Access:
4 minutes walk from Kanda Station

Address:1 Chome-18-11 Uchikanda Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Hours:Monday to Saturday 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM (Closes as soon as noodles run out) Closed on Sundays and first Mondays of every month Note that they will close the store when they run out of the noodles.

2. Udon Maruka in Jinbocho (うどん丸香)

Udon Maruka is another shop which the chef trained in Kagawa Prefecture. Their Udon has a real Sanuki Udon texture, chewy yet soft. The place is very popular that people line up always, but lines move pretty fast. Don't forget to order Chikuwa tempura and Kashiwa (chicken) tempura options.

Hours:Weekdays 11:00 AM - 7:30 PM Saturday 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM Closed on Sundays, National Holidays, Golden Week, Obon Holidays, and New YearsNote that they will close the store when they run out of the noodles.

3. Udon Shin in Shinjuku (うどん慎)

Udon Shin is located in a quiet area in Shinjuku. This is the perfect place to place to stop in the busy Shinjuku area. The place is small, and seating is limited to 12 seats. Normal Udon is of course tasty but try their calbonala Udon, too.

4. Kamaage Udon Hatsutomi in Edogawabashi (釜揚げうどん はつとみ)

Hatsutomi’s specialty is Kamaage Udon, it’s a type of Udon that do not cool noodles before serving. The udon is from Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu region. Their Udon is rather thin and when you slurp their udon, you can feel the smooth texture.

5. Ginza Sato Yosuke (銀座 佐藤養助)

Satoyosuke offers Inaniwa Udon in Ginza. Inaniwa Udon is a type of Udon from Akita Prefecture counted as The Three Great Udon, which is very thin compared with normal Udon. Satoyosuke was founded on 1860 in Akita Prefecture, and continues to be loved by people in Tokyo. Not only Udon but also their Japanese style omlet flavored with dashi is recommended, too.

7. Oniyanma (おにやんま) Gotanda

Oniyanma might be a challenging restaurant for non-Japanese speakers. However, this udon restaurant changed my view of eating udon outside. Very small standing style udon restaurant, not so clean but there is always lines and not only old business men but also young women lines up to crave for Oniyanma’s udon.

8. Tsurutontan (つるとんたん) Roppongi

Tsurutontan was originally a chain restaurant in Osaka, but began to expand to Tokyo from 2005. Within Tokyo, there are 4 restaurants, Roppongi, Shinjuku, Marunouchi, and Haneda airport. It’s planning to open a branch in New York on 2016. (http://www.tsurutontan-usa.com/ )

Tsurutontan has unique menus such as Mentaiko cream udon, and Shabu-shabu udon. The most popular menu is “Mentai Ankake Tamagotoji no Oudon (明太あんかけ卵とじのおうどん)”, udon with mentaiko, marinated rose of pollock and cod, and egg on the top.

Hanamaru udon is a self-service restaurant, where you pick the tray, pick tempura or other food that are displayed (if you want), then tell the staff the name of udon, size, and hot or cold, and finally proceed to payment.

They have variety of menus, from basic udon to seasonal udon. Hanamaru Udon is so popular because of the delicious udon with such a low price. Their most popular menu, “Ontama Bukkake (温玉ぶっかけ)”, udon with soft-boiled egg, costs only 400 yen for the middle sized bowl.

10. Marugame Seimen (丸亀製麺)

Marugame Seimen is another chain restaurant which has similar style from Hanamaru Udon. Marugame Seimen started to expand their business worldwide few years ago, now has 123 restaurants in 12 countries, including the U.S. (Hawaii), Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, and China. You can find Marugame Seimen in any Tokyo downtown.

Do you want to experience making Udon?

Wakalture Experience provides Udon cooking class for visitors from overseas. She speaks good English and has experiences as a dietician. You can experience cooking Udon by yourself from scratch! Of course, you get to eat the Udon you made at the end. She also offers two kinds of activities to do while you wait for the dough to sit: Japanese calligraphy or origami folding. Visit below pages for more information.